Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/53

Rh softened in alkaline water, is ground to a fine paste, then patted into thin cakes and baked over a quick fire on a thin iron plate or flat stone. The accompanying engraving represents one of the tortilla-makers; the girl herself is a fair type of the Mestiza of the serving class of Yucatan.

These cakes of Indian corn, called tortillas constitute, with frijoles (pronounced free-ho-les), the chief food of the poorer classes of all Mexico. Frijoles, it may be well to explain, are beans,—nothing more, nothing less; and these good people eat them twice every day, fourteen times a week, and seven or eight hundred times a year. They are always accompanied with chile, a kind of red pepper that delights the Mexican stomach, but which is so very hot that few strangers dare approach within a foot of it.

It was to the credit of the United States, and my good fortune, that we had as Consul in Yucatan, at the time of my arrival, a gentleman every way fitted for the position. Consul Aymé, though of French extraction, was a true American. He had twice circled the globe, was with our transit of Venus expedition as mineralogist, in 1874, and possessed rare accomplishments as an educated gentleman and devotee of science. Strangers at that time were rare in Merida, and the good Consul sought me out at the Hotel Mexico, and, with Spanish politeness and more than Spanish sincerity, offered me his house during the period of my stay. To him I am indebted for forty happy days in Yucatan, and for the best disposition of the time at my command. The building occupied by him as the consulate was on the south side of the Plaza, near the antique structure previously mentioned as having been erected by the first Adelantado of Yucatan. From it the various excursions projected for my benefit by my hospitable friend were carried out, embracing not only the interesting portions of the city, but remote points in the country, noted for their ruins or as being the resorts of rare birds.

An interesting place to visit, always, was the market, held in a large court enclosed on every side by high buildings. The entrance was nearly always obstructed by women with fruit to sell,